• Check out the results of the Techtree Contest #19!
  • Listen to a special audio message from Bill Roper to the Hive Workshop community (Bill is a former Vice President of Blizzard Entertainment, Producer, Designer, Musician, Voice Actor) 🔗Click here to hear his message!
  • Read Evilhog's interview with Gregory Alper, the original composer of the music for WarCraft: Orcs & Humans 🔗Click here to read the full interview.
  • Create a void inspired texture for Warcraft 3 and enter Hive's 34th Texturing Contest: Void! Click here to enter!
  • The Hive's 22nd Icon Contest: Creep Abilities is now concluded, time to vote for your favourite set of icons! Click here to vote!

Warcraft III: Community Edition

Author(s)
MindWorX, TriggerHappy, BogdanW3, Z-Machine
Tags
Windows, Gaming
Size
3.76 MB
Rating

(14 ratings)

Downloads
2037
Created
Dec 22, 2022
Updated
Jan 3, 2024
Resources
1
State
Approved
This bundle is marked as recommended. It works and satisfies the submission rules.
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Reactions: Eurick, GoodLucifer, bobyteal and 55 others
Warcraft III: Community Edition is a launcher designed specifically for Warcraft III, version 1.29.2.9231, nothing more, nothing less. The goal is to make a stable modding platform compatible with retail. A platform where we can add our own carefully considered features and thrive.

Alpha Version​

This is an alpha version of the launcher and will have a lot of issues. The point of this alpha release is to gather feedback on what needs fixing.

Please report any issues you encounter directly in this thread, or on our GitHub repo.

Installation Guide​

  1. Download 1.29.2 from here.
  2. Download Warcraft III: Community Edition and unzip it to a separate folder, not into the Warcraft III folder.
  3. Make sure you have the dependencies listed below.
  4. Make sure you have your CD-keys ready for both Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne.
  5. Run W3CE.Launcher and follow the on-screen instructions.

Dependencies​

Features​

  • Support for loading maps up to version 1.36.
  • Support for most natives introduced up to version 1.36.
  • Support for loading maps written in Lua.
  • Support for compiling map scripts with WASM.
  • Support for loading SD models up format version 1100.
  • A server to play with friends on.

Making your own maps​

We do not ship a custom World Editor with W3CE, so you are free to work on your maps in whatever editor you like (including the Reforged World Editor). In order for you to use our custom natives from JASS, you will have to enable local files and overwrite the common.j with our custom one.
  1. Enable local files
  2. Download W3CE's common.j
  3. Place the common.j in your <Warcraft III Installation Folder>/_retail_/scripts folder.

Known Issues​

  • New abilities introduced since 1.29.2 (Sundering Blades, Prioritize, etc) are currently not supported, but will only silently fail with a log message.
  • Many HD assets will be missing (pic related), but we do forward the ones we can to SD.
  • The frame API is still being worked on and needs some edge cases ironed out.

Planned Features​

  • Server stored characters and progress.
  • Reconnect and joining games in progress.
  • Map signing and author verification.
  • Tools to aid map developers in debugging desyncs.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)​

  • What if I don't have CD Keys?
    • We plan on adding support for players who have purchased Reforged but do not own any CD keys.

How can I help?​

Right now the thing we need the most is testers to try out their favorite maps, to see where our efforts should be focused.
Feedback in this tool thread and in the #w3ce channel on our Discord server is warmly welcomed.

Credits and Acknowledgements​

W3CE builds on decades of knowledge gathered across many communities and wouldn't have been possible without everyone involved now and in the past.

Changelog​

  • Added an alternate CE version of the object instance API which is 1 indexed and doesn't exhibit any bugged behavior.
  • BlzSetUnitWeaponRealField now matches the bugged behavior of Reforged.
  • Fixed an issue where maps with UTF8 characters in their trigger string file would not display properly.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur after playing a second map.
  • Fixed a crash that could occur randomly after playing multiple maps.
  • Fixed a crash that would occur when importing a 0kb terrain tile texture.
  • Fixed a crash that would occur when assigning frame's parent to a simpleframe.
  • WASM is now a supported scripting environment, allowing developers to code their maps in a variety of different languages such as Rust, C++, Go, Java, and so on.
  • Significantly improved map loading times.
  • Blizzard natives are now zero indexed in order to match Reforged's behavior.
  • Added 14 new origin frame types.
  • Added 24 new frame natives.
  • Added 10 new input natives.
  • Added CeGetAbilityLevel which allows you get the current level of an ability or buff object
  • BlzSetItemName, BlzSetItemDescription, and BlzSetItemIconPath are now working properly.
  • Implemented the item instance natives.
  • Implemented the majority of the unit instance natives.
  • Implemented the majority of the ability instance natives.
  • BlzFrameGetText now works for SimpleStrings.
  • BlzFrameSetTooltip now works for SimpleButtons.
  • BlzFrameGetByName now works with many different origin frames.
  • EditBox frames now have functioning events.
  • Fixed an issue where health bars would appear over the UI.
  • Fixed an issue where the texture cache was not working, causing maps to stutter.
  • Fixed an issue where FrameGetTextValue could cause a crash.
  • Fixed an issue where using strings longer than 1024 characters could cause a crash.
  • Fixed an issue where BlzEnableCursor could cause a crash.
  • Fixed an issue where TFT maps that used Reforged doodad data would crash.
  • Fixed an issue where BlzSetItemSkin would cause items to be invisible.
  • Fixed an issue where some frame events would trigger in reverse.
  • Fixed an issue where DXT1 textures did not support transparency.
  • Fixed an issue where textures with no mipmaps could fail to load.
  • Fixed an issue where keyboard events only fired for one player.
  • Fixed an issue where sync events would not take the sync prefix into account.
  • Fixed an issue where TriggerSleepAction would crash Lua maps.
Changes

Adds support for loading more texture formats (bmp, png, tif, dds, ktx, ktx2).
Improved asset loader to look into common retail paths.
Implemented multiple retail natives.
Improved retail parity in special effect natives.
Expanded W3CE API, adds many new natives related to updating models and their textures on units, items, effects, etc.

Fixes

Fixes Lua issue with equality and nil values.
Changes

Adds automatic UPnP port forwarding to help with Battle.net hosting.
Improves Lua FourCC and print.
Adds support for --verbose command line, to get more detailed logging.
Adds support for UNIT_RF_FLY_HEIGHT.
Adds support for GetUnitZ.

Fixes

Broken Lua dependencies.
Broken Lua common.j event ids.
Crash related to chain lightning from bugged damage events.

Changes​

  • Adds support for loading Reforged maps (1.31 through 1.35)
  • Adds Lua scripting engine.
  • Adds support for MDX version 1100.
  • Adds most critical natives have been implemented (185/242).
    • Some remaining ones are non-functional like dialogue/FaceFX control.
  • Adds partial support for the skin system (war3mapSkin.w3* files).
  • Adds the ability to load textures without specifying an extension.
  • Adds support for all of the updated file formats.
  • Adds support for loading maps created with DzAPI and YDAPI (NetEase).
  • The game can now use up to 3.5GB of RAM compared to the default 2GB.
  • The game is no longer limited to 64fps.
  • Adds support for connecting to our custom Battle.net server.
  • Adds 20 new natives.

Fixes​

  • Displaying a TimerDialog and Multiboad at the same time is no longer broken
  • BlzIsUnitInvulnerable no longer returns false if a unit is invulnerable

Libraries​

Previews
Contents

W3CE-v0.2.1-alpha (Binary)

Size
3.76 MB
Uploaded
Jan 3, 2024
Updated
Jan 3, 2024
Download
Reviews
Ralle
Ralle
One large step for a couple men, one big step for a community.
Read full review...
Pekisa7 said:
I tried it now . It dosen't seem to work for me. And I don't really like it.
Click to expand...
Sadly, HiveWE had just got updated that makes pre-Reforged versions obsolete (I checked a thread for this tool and says it only supports 2.0.3 or later), so you are out of world.

You have to find the other alternatives if you want to continue your project. If possible, you have to update your game to the latest patch from Battle.net. You don't need to buy Reforged, just link your old WC3 key to get working SD client.
 
Tough situation. Hopefully one day Community Edition has its own World Editor to go with it so we don't have these compatibility problems. I won't ever knock them for not having it though, because this project's already a lot.
 
Homor said:
Tough situation. Hopefully one day Community Edition has its own World Editor to go with it so we don't have these compatibility problems. I won't ever knock them for not having it though, because this project's already a lot.
Click to expand...
It doesn't need its own World Editor. That is the beauty of it. You can use any world editor that you prefer to use. All you have to do to use the extended API is to replace common.j. That is it. Simply that. Otherwise, you don't need to do anything extra. Just keep working on your map in the same world editor you have been using to develop the map.

it is for this reason that the issue with Pekisa7 is confusing. Why can't Pekisa7 continue to develop the map on patch 1.31.1's World Editor? Why is Pekisa7 trying to develop the map on patch 1.29.2's world editor? Why does Pekisa7 need a higher patch's world editor?
 
Elprede said:
It doesn't need its own World Editor. That is the beauty of it. You can use any world editor that you prefer to use. All you have to do to use the extended API is to replace common.j. That is it. Simply that. Otherwise, you don't need to do anything extra. Just keep working on your map in the same world editor you have been using to develop the map.

it is for this reason that the issue with Pekisa7 is confusing. Why can't Pekisa7 continue to develop the map on patch 1.31.1's World Editor? Why is Pekisa7 trying to develop the map on patch 1.29.2's world editor? Why does Pekisa7 need a higher patch's world editor?
Click to expand...
You'd have to ask him. He's banned right now, but when he's unbanned (or if you find another means to communicate) you can ask him all of these questions, and you might even be able to find a solution together.
 
Can you play with people and choose server like good old days with hostbost? this might be better than eb if it's possible but I don't know. How are the servers, how it compares to reforged?
 
I think Reforged has all the money so in an unfortunate turn of events, even though you can indeed play with people, and indeed choose which hosted game to join, and probably host those games with hostbots, it is probably a mostly empty server still because the "Community" is mostly deciding to play on Reforged instead of on the Community edition sadly.

But the better way to test this would be to try it out, rather than to trust a second hand opinion here on the forums. Hopefully W3CE launches easily for you from the launcher!
 
bobyteal said:
Can you play with people and choose server like good old days with hostbost? this might be better than eb if it's possible but I don't know. How are the servers, how it compares to reforged?
Click to expand...
I'm pretty sure you can but the servers are pretty small/empty. People like to play on the "official" version because it feels like the path of least resistance.
 
Archian said:
tftlegacy-webp.586361


A new update has brought good news for fans of classic RTS games. The Warcraft III launcher on Battle.net now includes a legacy version of the game based on patch 1.29. This was the last version before Warcraft III: Reforged development began.

sk%C3%A6rmbillede-2026-04-29-212515-webp.586362
sk%C3%A6rmbillede-2026-04-29-213010-webp.586364
sk%C3%A6rmbillede-2026-04-29-213228-webp.586365


Patch 1.29 is important because it improved the original game without changing its core feel. It added widescreen support, better performance, and updates to the map editor. Many players see it as the most complete version of the classic game.

When Reforged launched, it replaced the original client and changed parts of the experience. Not everyone liked those changes. Since then, some players have wanted a way to go back to the older version.

Now they can. The legacy version lets players enjoy Warcraft III as it was before Reforged. This is great for people who play custom maps, create mods, or just want the original gameplay.

It is a small update, but for longtime fans, it matters a lot.

What could this mean? Blizzard has made no mention about this. It was brought to our attention by the Hive community.
Click to expand...

This is compatible with Community Edition correct?
 
Since this thread s somewhat alive again - I could use some help. Whenever I try to create an account after launching Battle.net, it disconnects. There's no "Account Created" window, OK button is grayed out, I can only press Cancel. And if I try to login after that, it says "The operation was unable to complete because you are not connected". What am I doing wrong here?
 
LongbowMan said:
Since this thread s somewhat alive again - I could use some help. Whenever I try to create an account after launching Battle.net, it disconnects. There's no "Account Created" window, OK button is grayed out, I can only press Cancel. And if I try to login after that, it says "The operation was unable to complete because you are not connected". What am I doing wrong here?
Click to expand...
That’s because it’s not active yet.

AFAIK, they do not have an active PvPGN yet for the public
 
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